Federal and state regulations, as well as insurance providers, require the use of safety systems to prevent workers from falling from elevated surfaces during construction or maintenance repairs. In certain instances if the proper safety procedures are not followed, governmental organizations such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) can levy fines against companies and building owners due to non-compliance.
The safety systems are important from a regulation standpoint as well as good business practice. Safety systems protect workers from accidental falls and the resulting injuries or death that can occur. Minimizing these types of accidents and the resultant repercussions is important to protect life and limb as well as to reduce liabilities.
Often construction and maintenance/repair companies encounter numerous types of elevated edges, including flat edges, raised edges such as gravel stops, parapet walls, and slab overhangs. These various edges may be encountered on different job sites, a single job site, or even on a single building, and therefore construction companies currently need various types of safety rail bases. For that reason, there are various types of safety rail bases in the prior art; however the construction company must keep the various bases on hand or purchase them when required. This results in large costs and extra storage dedicated to safety equipment. There exists more versatile safety rail bases which are compatible with up to two of the various types of elevated surface edges, thereby decreasing the chance of multiple bases being required on a given jobsite; however construction companies prefer being able to use a single base for three or more of the types of elevated edges that they encounter.
Similarly, construction companies must choose between the available horizontal fall protection barrier types, including, but not limited to, lumber-based rails, metal rails, and cable systems. This is further complicated by the fact that currently there does not exist in the prior art any base and post apparatus that receives multiple types of horizontal barrier types. For example, if a construction company requires a lumber rail for a first job and a cable system for a second job, the company must purchase or rent two entire apparatus systems. Furthermore, not every type of base is produced for every type of horizontal system. This forces construction companies to purchase different brands of railing system, which is undesirable because construction companies often have developed business relations or trust with specific safety product manufacturers.
Lastly, construction sites are often complicated, dangerous places with many hazards and limited space. Therefore it is desirable to store and transport all of the parts of a single base and post (i.e. stanchion) together as a single unit. Keeping the parts in this way minimizes the necessary storage space required and minimizes the risk of losing parts when not in use. Currently there does not exist a parapet clamp base and post which can be stored compactly and as a single unit; that is, the current parapet clamps must be disassembled to store compactly, in which case the parts are separate and can be lost.